Crashburn Alley Readership Feedback

My apologies for the lack of meaningful content lately. I’ve been a bit busy with real life and I haven’t been able to find time to get to everything that I’d planned on, like the series previews for the now-finished two-game set in St. Louis and the upcoming two-game set in New York.

I will be busy for the better part of the remaining week, so I figure that this is as good a time as any to get some feedback from the Crashburn Alley readership about what they like and dislike about the blog, which will be two years old in August. It doesn’t matter if you’re a devout follower or just a passer-by, I’m interested in what you have to say about the good and the bad about Crashburn Alley.

Make your voice heard and leave some feedback in the comments section. Be as long-winded or as brief as you’d like, as complimentary or as critical, and address anything that’s on your mind. My only request is that you be civil about it. Some examples of topics you could leave feedback about:

The content (analysis, graphics, etc.)

The recurring themes (series previews, fantasy league updates, etc.)

My writing style

The look and feel of the blog

For long-time readers: Has the blog improved since you started following? Or has it stagnated?

This may be a fairly useless comment, since I don’t have any real complaints or suggestions, but I just wanted to say: you do a great job here, and it’s one of the few Phils blogs I read religiously. Like the links to your BDD articles, like the in-depth analysis pieces, the whole lot. Just keep up the good work.

EH

banez’s effect, according to one measure, has been greater than any of the Mariners’. Ultimate Zone Rating, the metric created by sabermetricians Mitchel Lichtman, says Ibanez has saved nearly six runs for the Phillies this season, the most in the major leagues aside from Milwaukee center fielder Mike Cameron(notes). In the past two seasons combined, UZR had Ibanez’s defense accounting for 32 runs lost.

Revised Zone Rating, another advanced metric from “The Fielding Bible” author John Dewan, has Ibanez making 40 of the 43 plays in his “zone” – the nebulous area Dewan’s system believes a left fielder should cover. That figure ranks seventh among corner outfielders, though Ibanez’s nine plays out of his zone places him further down the list.

When the Phillies signed Ibanez, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said they considered Ibanez an average defender, perhaps a tick below average. Never did they bother with statistics that claimed Ibanez among the game’s worst fielders.

“I do not buy numbers defensively. At all,” Amaro said. “I look at fielding percentage. But that other business? I don’t buy it a lick. I think defense is subjective. You know, if you watch a guy, whether he has range or not. You can’t study a guy’s routes to the ball by the numbers. It doesn’t happen.

“We subscribe to what our guys see with their eyes, especially when it comes to defense.”

Ernie

I dont even like the phillies, but I still read, so your doing something right. I think the one complaint is the fantasy posts, as it doesnt interest me, but other than that, not much to complain about. Maybe you should do some interviews (maybe you can do one with your buddy Bill Conlin), those are always interesting. I would like to see what you did last year with the drunk jays fans. I thought it was pretty amusing the write up you had to do when the phils lost. but yeah, keep up the good work.

I like the fact that you asked your readership for honest feedback…and seemed sincere in doing so.

Unfortunately, readership is much too big a word for me…so I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I’m assuming it could be a cruise boat where your regular readers meet to party. My invitation probably got lost in the mail or something.

But since you asked for feedback, I like what you do here…even if it is primarily a Phillies blog, and I’m not a Phils’ fan. I imagine that your blog has improved as your writing duties have expanded. Being able to link to things like the pre-season team preview you participated in gives your blog some real punch.

And personally, I just like when you get in attack mode…controversial topics or otherwise.

Keep up the good work.

Oh, as for the fantasy updates. Kinda cool, but of course I understand it would only be so for the people involved. Could either scrap it, shorten it, or post it every two weeks instead. Or if you wanted to expand it into something that would appeal to others, maybe take a few players and give some broad fantasy analysis on them. Tips, hints, etc…if you wanted to go that route.